Lowering my front end (Advice Needed)

Triathlon Forum
1

So, I need some very general advice here. I was serotta fit last year on my tri bike with an IM as my “A” race. Because of this, the fitter set me up pretty high in the front so I’d be comfortable over the long haul. Well, this year I’m focusing on the short stuff and want to experiment with going a little lower in the front. Will I likely want to lower/raise my seat? Will I want to move it up/back? Or, do I just lower the front end and go? right now I feel like I’m a kid at the grown up table my front end is so high. Here’s a link to a couple of pics.

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_photo.asp?EVENTID=10058&ID=26638254&FROM=photos&BIB=555

2

If the position you have is working well biomechanically (feel good, good power, etc.) then I would translate the position by pure rotation. Take a piece of string, stretched from the center of the bottom bracket to a critical point of the bike, say the area of the seat where you make contact. Now rotate the string forward (rotating about the bottom bracket) such the critical point moves forward say 3 degrees. Now adjust the saddle position to get it into this new position. Do the same with the handlebars. This keeps all body angles the same, while just rotating forward. (I think the easiest way to do this is to measure all points using an X,Y coordinate system with the origin at the bottom bracket, translate to polar coordinates, add an angular offset, translate back to X,Y coordinates.)

So you will be moving the saddle forward, and up a little. The bars will go down and out. If you want to experiment with different positions, look into a Look ErgoStem. This will give you a great deal of flexibility in position. Once you find the position you love, you can buy a stem to get that position.

One important point. Make sure you know how to get back to your original position, in case you don’t like the new position. Either mark all critical points ( seat rails, seat post, number of steerer spacers, etc.) or make sure you have good measurements on the current position.

Paul

3

Thanks, Paul. Great advice. I will try it this week.